How SEC Football Should Reorganize Its Divisions

#26
#26
BaldBiker said:
There are a lot of UT fans on this board that don't believe the hatred is still there between Bama and TN. I've tried to tell them that it is still alive and well, but they refuse to believe.

I visit the Bama boards every year before the game just to ensure that the hatred is alive and well. I've not been disappointed yet.

That's the way it should be too. I hate Bama football. I respect it, but I hate it with a passion.
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You may have to go back and tell them again. :bash:

Of course, in a respectful, dignified kind of way.
 
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#29
#29
bamawriter said:
In all honesty, Auburn does get a bit screwed by being in the West. Other than Bama, all of Auburn's historic rivals are in the East (UGA, UF, UT).

We'd all be better served without divisions.
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The numbers make It almost look like they were playing Miss State more consistently than Tennessee...is that wrong?
 
#30
#30
VFL-82-JP said:
Ah, my bad then. I was just going by what I found when I googled for the Tigers' rivals. I honestly don't know their inner loves, hates, and passions that well. :birgits_giggle:


One other way to solve it would be to stick with 8 conference games, current 1+1 formula (one permanent crossover, one rotating), and the Iron Bowl be declared a "non-conference" game.

That's also a little odd, but it has been done before (most recently, I think, in the ACC).
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It's not been done yet. UNC and Wake Forest set up to do such in 2019 and 2021.


And it's kind of ridiculous for a rivalry game like that, let alone a rivalry game as large as the Iron Bowl, to be designated "non-conference" when both are in the same conference.
 
#31
#31
dduncan4163 said:
I could also get on board with this


  • Division 1: Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU.
  • Division 2: Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M.
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Better yet:

  • Division A: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri

    [*]Division B: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia


Also, all future SEC Championships will be relocated to Neyland Stadium.
 
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#32
#32
TrueOrange said:
Better yet:

  • Division A: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri

    [*]Division B: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia


Also, all future SEC Championships will be relocated to Neyland Stadium.
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This person gets it.

Seriously though, I wish they would just do away with divisions completely. I like the idea of having a broader mix of opponents instead of the same 6 rest teams year after year after year. Would rather see A&M, UM, LSU, Barn more often instead of UGA, UK, Mizz etc constantly.

It's one thing I don't like @ conferences in general. There are so many intriguing game possibilities across the nation. Yet, in the current system we only really make 1 nationwide wildcard game(OU, UO, UCLA etc) and hopefully a bowl. The rest are scrubs or the same teams again.
 
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#33
#33
livefaith said:
This person gets it.

Seriously though, I wish they would just do away with divisions completely. I like the idea of having a broader mix of opponents instead of the same 6 rest teams year after year after year. Would rather see A&M, UM, LSU, Barn more often instead of UGA, UK, Mizz etc constantly.

It's one thing I don't like @ conferences in general. There are so many intriguing game possibilities across the nation. Yet, in there current system we only really make 1 nationwide wildcard game(OU, UO, UCLA etc) and hopefully a bowl. The rest are scrubs or the same teams again.
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I agree with you for the most part & on the bold above. However, doing away with divisional foes would also take away our biggest rivalry game every year in Florida. No way I could go with that. We must play UF every year.

Just like right now we still play Bama every single year as rivals even though they are in the West. Those are 2 teams that in no way I would want taken away as a yearly opponent in conference play.

The rest of the teams I could care less & we could split them up & play them every other year like we are doing now with the West foes except for Bama which we continue to play every year. It just wouldn't be right not playing Florida & Bama every single season.
 
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#34
#34
If the goal is to achieve "balance", then kentucky or vandy have to go to the other division.

If the goal is to have divisions make geographical sense, then missouri has to head to the west.

I have said repeatedly that, if we keep divisions, what makes the most sense is for Mizzou to move west and Auburn to come east.

the problem is it kills Alabama-Tennessee.
 
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#35
#35
tonybologna said:
I agree with you for the most part & on the bold above. However, doing away with divisional foes would also take away our biggest rivalry game every year in Florida. No way I could go with that. We must play UF every year.

Just like right now we still play Bama every single year as rivals even though they are in the West. Those are 2 teams that in no way I would want taken away as a yearly opponent in conference play.

The rest of the teams I could care less & we could split them up & play them every other year like we are doing now with the West foes except for Bama which we continue to play every year. It just wouldn't be right not playing Florida & Bama every single season.
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Agree 100%

No Bama, No Florida, No Thank You
 
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#36
#36
99gator said:
If the goal is to achieve "balance", then kentucky or vandy have to go to the other division.

If the goal is to have divisions make geographical sense, then missouri has to head to the west.

I have said repeatedly, that if we keep divisions, then what makes the most sense is for Mizzou to move west and Auburn to come east.

the problem is it kills Alabama-Tennessee.
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A remedy would be going to 9 conference games but I don't see that happening
 
#37
#37
So another thought. Do away with divisions, stay at 8 conference games, and fix 3 of the 8 games as permanent rivals. So using the Vols as the example, we could have Bama, Florida and one other (Auburn? Georgia? Vandy? Kentucky? Ole Miss? Miss St? ... all have been considered rivals in the past), and the other 5 games would rotate from year to year. Since there are 10 other teams in the conference, that means we'd play each of them once every two years. Home and home cycle every four years. That's not bad at all....


p.s. Looking at what I just wrote, I'd probably have Vandy as the third permanent rival for the Vols. Not because I like them or anything, but because our other two permanent rivals are among the two toughest teams in the conference. Just to balance out schedule difficulty, making the third Vandy would be about right. Plus, they are the in-state rival.
 
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#38
#38
Just leave it alone. Always somebody trying to justify their jobs, geez. No good reason to change, except for change itself.

GO VOLS!
 
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#39
#39
RollerVol said:
Just leave it alone. Always somebody trying to justify their jobs, geez. No good reason to change, except for change itself.

GO VOLS!
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You do know that Freak doesn't pay any of us to be here, right? These aren't really "jobs," we're just talking about it for fun. :)
 
#40
#40
i think there's actually too much creativity applied here. part of the complication is the intra state rivaries. MS, TN and AL all have 2 schools. so instead of literally trhing to draw a line to separate it geographically...why not split up the intra state, and go from there.... Ole Miss, Vandy, Bama, Ark, LSU, aTm, MO in the West, MSU, Aub, TN, GA, USC, FL and KY in the East.

permanent rivals...MSU/Ole miss, Vandy/TN, Aub/Bama.
FL/LSU, USC/ARK, KY/aTm, GA/MO.

the only major rivalry that bites it is unfortunately TN/Bama. but there's no way to realign, and keep it.

but you'd get TN/Auburn back every year, and that used to be fun too.
 
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#41
#41
jakez4ut said:
...why not split up the intra state, and go from there.... Ole Miss, Vandy, Bama, Ark, LSU, aTm, MO in the West, MSU, Aub, TN, GA, USC, FL and KY in the East.

permanent rivals...MSU/Ole miss, Vandy/TN, Aub/Bama.
FL/LSU, USC/ARK, KY/aTm, GA/MO.

the only major rivalry that bites it is unfortunately TN/Bama. but there's no way to realign, and keep it.

but you'd get TN/Auburn back every year, and that used to be fun too.
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But there are plenty of ways to realign and keep the Third Saturday in October. Three or four mentioned just in this thread.
 
#43
#43
dduncan4163 said:
I could also get on board with this


  • Division 1: Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU.
  • Division 2: Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M.
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Clearly either an Auburn or Georgia fan came up with this.

But I'd just put Missiouri in west and bring in two east coast teams (WV, Va Tech, UNC, NC St).
 
#45
#45
VFL-82-JP said:
But there are plenty of ways to realign and keep the Third Saturday in October. Three or four mentioned just in this thread.
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ok, maybe that's a bit drastic of a statement....how about realistic ways. i don't see 9 game conf schedule, or selected permenant rivals, or 4 divisions.

if realignment ever occurs, it will be with minimal changes to the bones of the conf schedule. some of the names will change on either side of the divisonal lines, but the structure of the league and the schedule are very unlikely to change.

and while balance will be a factor, so will geography.

and i don't think they'll put Bama and TN in the same division....but you could, and obviously that would keep the game.
 
#46
#46
and JP, if you start with the notion of keeping that game, that's one of the goal's, then i'm sure you'd come up with a solution.

but when you think about this topic, and really, what makes the most sense in the big picture....splitting up Bama and Auburn is almost a must, and keeping the Iron bowl is the assumed "keep", not the 3rd Saturday in October.

my suggestion is take it one step further and split up all 3 intra state rivalries, and shake that up.

could you keep TN and Bama in the same division doing that, sure. but in the interest of "balance" is having FL and Bama in the same division a good thing? probably not in the long run. is splitting up TN/FL good for the long run? probably not.

anyway, i'm sure there are ways, but i think big picture wise, i think i choose to look at it for what we'd be getting going forward, vs. what we'd be losing...which is one game.

and you still keep the opportunity for a meet in the SEC title game.
 
#47
#47
Maybe this?

Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Auburn
Ole miss
Miss state
Kentucky


Texas A&M
Arkansas
Missouri
LSU
Tennessee
Vandy
Alabama
 
#48
#48
99gator said:
Maybe this?

Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Auburn
Ole miss
Miss state
Kentucky


Texas A&M
Arkansas
Missouri
LSU
Tennessee
Vandy
Alabama
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personally, i'd hate that. long trips to LSU, ARK, MO and aTm, and vice versa.

speaking from TN perspective, we lose all the regional games, and that'd hurt recruiting. not going to columbia, Athens, gainesville with any regularity....eh...nah....can't see it.
 
#49
#49
99gator said:
Maybe this?

Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Auburn
Ole miss
Miss state
Kentucky


Texas A&M
Arkansas
Missouri
LSU
Tennessee
Vandy
Alabama
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Don't see the reason in that. It's not geographical...it's not balanced...it tears apart a lot of rivalries...where were you trying to go with it?
 
#50
#50
jakez4ut said:
personally, i'd hate that. long trips to LSU, ARK, MO and aTm, and vice versa.

speaking from TN perspective, we lose all the regional games, and that'd hurt recruiting. not going to columbia, Athens, gainesville with any regularity....eh...nah....can't see it.
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I like your set up better too.

Although, i would pair up vandy and kentucky as cross division rivals
 
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